RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 2 sourcesCHICAGO — Injured Yankees captain Aaron Judge is paying close attention to what roster changes general manager Brian Cashman is able to pull off in the next few days.
He wants upgrades before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
He wants significant upgrades.
He expects them.
“We’re going to be all in,” Judge predicted before the Yankees blew a four-run lead Wednesday night and lost to the White Sox 6-5 in 12 innings. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Judge won’t name names on his wish list — that would be tampering — but he knows what’s been reported for weeks.
He knows the Yankees would love to trade for the best reliever in the majors, Padres closer Mason Miller . He knows the Yankees are looking for a catcher . He knows they’ll be exploring options for a stopgap outfielder to provide offense until he and All-Star left fielder Cody Bellinger come off the injured list.
How’s this going to shake out?
“We’ll see,” Judge said. “I don’t have much on it. You never know what’s going to happen.
“You can speculate about what we need to do, but it’s tough with how many teams get into postseason now with the extra wild card.”
MLB added a third wild card team in 2022 to increase the playoff field from five to six in each league. Through Wednesday’s games, 20 of 30 teams were either in a playoff position or within two games of a wild-card spot.
The Yankees are in great shape to get to the playoffs, with a 61-47 record that has them trailing the AL East-leading Rays by 2 1/2 games and holding the first AL wild-card position.
They lost 11 of 13 games from June 25 to July 8, but since then, they won 11 of their last 16, including seven of their last 10.
Regardless of what the Yankees do by Monday’s 6 p.m. ET trade deadline, their inability to consistently score runs since Judge’s absence figures to change if and when their lineup gets full again. Judge, Bellinger and designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton are being counted on to be off the injured list by September at the latest, maybe sooner.
“As a player, you have an opportunity to put your team in the best position so the guys upstairs can figure out where the best move is and fill that need to complete this team,” Judge said. “We’ve already got a great lineup. We’ve got a great pitching staff, which has really gotten us to this spot. And we’re going to get better.”
Judge is eager to return. He’s impatiently waiting for medical clearance to start swinging a bat and to resume other baseball activities, but that won’t come until his fractured rib has fully healed. The July 14 scan did not show full healing. Judge’s next MRI has not yet been scheduled.
“We’ll probably figure it out next week when we get home,” Judge said. “It’s killing me (not playing). I keep asking our guys all the time about it. They keep saying, ‘It’s healing,’ but they want it to keep healing so I don’t do something that sets me back.”
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